


The Ties That Bind

by The_Chronic_Cryptid



Series: Lifeline [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Firebenders still probably shouldn't be on wooden ships, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Parental Hakoda (Avatar), Sibling Bonding, There's still rope, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, dadkoda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 04:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29770626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Chronic_Cryptid/pseuds/The_Chronic_Cryptid
Summary: In direct continuation of At the End of His Rope, newly adopted Zuko and Hakoda navigate Zuko's new role as tribe and son, as well as his place on the Water Tribe ship. The situation complicates itself with the arrival of the Gaang. It's far from smooth sailing to move on from the past, forging the ties that bind.
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Hakoda & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko, Water Tribe & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Lifeline [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2128425
Comments: 59
Kudos: 179





	The Ties That Bind

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Everyone,  
> I'm back and here to resolve your cliffhanger. Thanks for waiting and your comments in the meantime.
> 
> If you haven't read At the End of His Rope, read that first. This is a direct continuation, and a lot of it won't make sense if you don't. You've been warned. 
> 
> ...Without further ado, (I'm not copying the last line over because it's the same as the first line), happy reading!

Before Zuko could stop himself, he turned and bolted.

But a hand caught his arm, pulling him back in the same motion. Noren let out an angry squawk from Zuko’s shoulder with the jostle, nipping at the chief before Zuko settled him. Hakoda brought his head beside the boy’s better ear and as far from the turtleduckling as he could manage, his hushed tone gentle. Too low to carry to the four kids who dismounted the sky bison, their greetings with Bato providing just enough distraction that none of them noticed the new arrivals on the deck.

“We just talked about this, didn’t we?” Zuko nodded, his lips pressed together in a thin line. He scuffed one of his boots against the boards beneath his feet. They had discussed it, only moments before. But wrapped in the warming lull of the galley and fog of flour, Hakoda’s reassurances about the inevitable arrival of his new siblings seemed a distant future. 

Not the reality crashing down onto the deck with ten tons of white fur, three pairs of boots, and one pair of dirt-covered, bare feet, “You don’t have anything to run or hide from, fire ferret.” He squeezed the band of rope on the boy’s wrist, knowing the silent gesture would bring more comfort than his words ever could, “You belong here.”

Some tension slid away from Zuko’s shoulders with those words, a faint curl breaking the hard line of his lips. The boy craned his neck to let his amber eyes meet Hakoda’s.

“I know,” he mumbled, with less conviction in his words than Hakoda would have liked. Apparently, some lessons needed longer to sink into the prince’s head, and the sudden arrival of his children- his other children, had brought back old habits. Zuko bit his lip, pointedly drawing Hakoda’s gaze down to his pale fingers. They flexed in a warning of the fire he was trying to suppress, “I just can’t. Not now.” Noren made another noise, and Zuko shushed him with a glance over his shoulder. Not wanting to draw the attention of the group.

Sighing, Hakoda’s grip slid away from Zuko’s wrist. He’d learned the hard way to trust the boy’s judgment when it came to his bending. This wasn’t the time to push their luck with it. 

“Alright, you can go, as long as you’re not going to be impossible to find later. Understand?” he said, his thoughts brought back to the earliest days of Zuko’s imprisonment on the ship with a rueful smile. The teen’s lip twitched, his thoughts following a similar trail. He shrugged, running his hand through Noren’s feathers to keep the little turtleduck quiet.

“You always found me before,” he said, turning away. Hakoda grinned but rubbed his temples at the obvious evasion in place of an agreement. He was out of practice at turning their ship upside down to find Zuko and wanted to keep it that way. For a moment, the chief allowed himself to watch his newly adopted son walk away. His shoulders squared and stiff, and Hakoda tried without success to gauge Zuko’s destination. It was still a retreat, but a marked improvement over running away. He could tell the boy wanted to, but he didn’t.

Practically glowing with pride, Hakoda turned back toward the scene on deck, blocking off the route after Zuko. Sibling introductions couldn’t be put off for long, but he could provide him a few more minutes of peace.

And already two pairs of arms had clamped around him, tighter than coils of rope. Sokka and Katara. Older and taller, their faces made up of harder lines just like in Zuko’s drawings. Their arms closed further around him than he remembered their hugs ever reached before. The embrace was long, lacking any of the reluctance Hakoda had grown accustomed to.

“Dad, we saw the ship and hoped it was yours,” Katara said, her voice thick. She fought to keep it steady, her arms closed a little tighter around him as she spoke. 

“You hoped, I knew it was, but you wouldn’t listen to me,” Sokka snapped at his sister, breaking the embrace, "Mind giving us a ride? Sky Bison travel isn't helping us with going unnoticed."

"Appa is not noticeable," Katara snapped back.

Hakoda rolled his eyes, apparently, the bickering wasn’t something they grew out of, unlike the softness of their faces. He ruffled Sokka’s wolf tail.

“We can work out travel arrangements later. Let me have just a minute with my warrior and my waterbending master before you two start fighting again,” he said, wincing to himself when he realized what he’d said. Katara’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. She pulled back from the hug, her arms crossing. 

“Who told you about that?” she asked, tone accusatory. 

What was he supposed to say? _Your new brother, when he told me all about how you nearly drowned him the night of the eclipse?_ La, that wouldn’t end well. Hakoda gave Bato a pleading look over Katara’s head, but the second shrugged. Left to his own devices for a suitable excuse, Hakoda managed to begin something resembling a sentence about the Avatar.

“And how did you know about that, for another thing?” Sokka interrupted, “We never mentioned Aang.” Hakoda blanched, stumbling over his words, but Bato cleared his throat and cocked his head at the mass of white fur. He snorted and leaned against the mast, “Oh right, I guess that would do it,” Sokka trailed off as he glanced back at Appa who was already snoring on the deck, and Aang who was trying to coax Momo down from the sky bison’s back.

“Speaking of companions, Chief, where’s the _fire ferret_?” The second asked. Hakoda gave him a warning glare, but with the curiosity of his children piqued, he had to come up with something to say.

“He got a little spooked with all the commotion and probably tucked himself away somewhere.” Smug by how close to the truth he managed to keep it until the bald boy flitted across the deck right in front of him. Too light on his feet, even with a lemur on his shoulders.

“You have a fire ferret?” Aang asked, continuing on before Hakoda could have a chance to answer, “I’m great with animals. I’ll find him, leave it to me.” The Avatar, Aang, he supposed was already taking off at run before Hakoda could stop him. A soft gust of wind rippling through the sails in his wake. 

“He likes jerky," Podan called after him, a smirk on his lips, "So, beard destroyer is up to his old tricks again?” He asked. Hakoda nodded, rubbing his temples. His gaze flicking toward the far side of the deck for any signs of where Zuko might have gone, without any luck. He was beginning to wish he’d thought to tell him where to go, rather than just letting the boy take off. Sokka’s brows wrinkled.

“Beard destroyer? First, it’s village destroyer, and second I was five. How long is it going to take for people to let that go?” The surrounding crewmembers chuckled, at least one of whom had lost a tent in that incident, making Sokka wonder what joke he was missing. 

“My mistake, _village destroyer,_ and to answer your other question, never.”

Sokka stomped away from the group to the chorus more laughter behind him to start unloading the sky bison, muttering something about how no one ever called Katara names, “Because no one wants to get frozen in an ice block. We hear she’s more proficient these days,” Podan called after him, stroking his chin.

The remaining children exchanged looks, except the tiny, dark-haired girl who was clinging to the sky bison’s leg. Her pale features were greener than the headband pinning back her hair. Hakoda raised an eyebrow in concern for the sick child, but Katara raised a hand to stop his approach. His daughter proceeded to explain with all the matter-of-factness as if she was saying something that was supposed to make perfect sense, that Toph’s feet couldn’t see very much on ships.

At a loss for the proper response, Hakoda just nodded.

“Ships suck,” Toph called out from the sky bison’s leg, “No offense, Chief Hakoda. I’m sure yours is great and all, but I prefer the ground.”

“None taken-”

“Hey chief juniors,” Videk strolled into the group with Tarsi beside him, less red and puffing than he’d been the last time Hakoda had seen him in the galley, “Where’s,” Hakoda tried to cut him off, but the young crewman was faster, “Zuko?” 

It was too late.

“Zuko?” Sokka dropped the bedroll he was holding. It bounced around his feet, “Like the angry, flamethrower prince who chased us all half-way around the world, Zuko? He’s here, on the ship?” 

“Last time I checked he was.” Videk offered Hakoda a sheepish grin in return for the scowl he received, “But he’s pretty easy to lose track of, could be anywhere at this point.”

“Wait, just so I have this straight, there’s a firebender loose on the ship, a _wooden_ ship, and none of you are panicking?” Sokka’s voice cracked as his volume rose.

“That’s right,” Tarsi said, keeping his cool grin, even as the others were starting to crack. Videk coughed into his bony elbow and Podan hid his twitching lips behind the spout of his waterskin.

Katara moved first, eyes flashing like cool, blue steel.

“Don’t worry, Dad.” She put a hand on her waterskin, “We’ll handle this.” Sokka snatched his boomerang from its sling between his shoulders. They took off across the deck before anyone could stop them, leaving all the crewman, the massive bison, and one small girl behind. Bato rubbed the back of his neck, watching the flashes of blue disappear around a bend and out of sight.

“Well, that went about as well as could be expected,” he said, “Guess we’ll need to go rescue the kid before the other kids get their hands on him.” A rumble of approval passed through the group, “Any idea where he went?” Hakoda shook his head, gesturing in the same general direction all of his children took off and grimacing.

A muffled groan, followed by a cleared throat summoned all their attention back to the girl who had moved to stand beside the sky bison. She crossed her arms, doing her best not to look like she was about to lose the contents of her stomach, “You’re not going to chase after him too, are you?” Bato asked.

The girl shook her head, her cloudy eyes gleamed despite her obvious discomfort.

“Don't need to, unlike those dunderheads, I already know where he is.” Dubious glances were shared between the crewmembers. Toph’s eyes narrowed, “I can hear him." She tapped her ears, "Sparky’s the smallest one on the ship other than us. If someone wants to give me a lift through this giant bucket, I can handle things before Snoozles or Sugar Queen get there.”

Hakoda scooped up the small girl without further argument, settling her on his shoulders, “He’s definitely below deck, and Sokka and Katara aren’t anywhere near him. Twinkletoes’s harder to hear, but I don’t think we have to worry about him, anyway.” 

“So, Toph, why does it seem you don't want to beat up my- beat up Zuko?” The girl's eyes narrowed at the fumble in his words, a satisfied grin breaking across her face. She shrugged.

“Sparky and I are kind of old friends, we have a different history than the others do.” Hakoda nodded as he brought her down into the passage below, quiet again as they moved. The girl’s eyes narrowed, leaning far enough to the side that Hakoda brought up an arm to her narrow shoulders to stop her from toppling off, “Stop," she said, "Let me down here."

Hakoda lifted her down outside the galley door, moving to open it, when the girl slammed one of her palms into the wood, “Not so fast Chief Hakoda, thanks for your help and all, but hide and go seek is a kids’ game. Sparky and I need to have a conversation. You can take care of everything else out here.”

He opened his mouth to protest, “I told you I was going to handle things, didn't I?” Not sure whether to feel comforted or more concerned by her words, Hakoda watched in stunned silence, as the tiny girl walked into the galley and let the door slam behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that was chapter one after one minor head injury, one covid scare that turned out to just be a cold, one school presentation that we will not speak of, and a solid case of writer's block.  
> I'd love to know what people think! Comments, questions, anything else are always welcome.  
> Go to[My Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/thiscryptidischronicallyyours) for more story content, avatar fan things, writing things, and general things I guess.  
> 💚Chronically Yours 💚


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